‘Back to the future': AMP Bank goes back 20 years for new savings account
In the past high interest savings accounts were known as a way to offer customers flexibility and a strong interest rates.
But over time the traditional account was muddled with added terms and conditions, which according to a 2023 ACCC report, was leading to customers missing out on.
AMP Bank GO director John Arnott said this was why AMP was launching its new savings product.
'This is almost like going back to the future, we've seen the success of these high interest accounts in the past,' he said.
'There was a thing in the market 20 years ago which was a high interest online savings account or HIOSA, which was about offering high interest for online accounts that had full flexibility.
'It was very much what you see is what you get, but fast forward 20 years there has been a number of conditions added to these accounts.'
AMP's new app based savings account has come to market offering savers 4.5 per cent on balances up to $250,000, without a minimum deposit, no withdrawal conditions and no monthly fees.
The savings account is only available through its GO app and must be linked to a GO everyday transaction account which will not offer any interest.
Mr Arnott said the bank was launch a product from the ground up since the bank only launched six months ago.
'We've gone a bit old school with what you see being what you get,' Mr Arnott said.
'If you look at what consumers want it's transparency, flexibility and peace of mind so we felt if we were going to launch a savings product that our customers are asking for then we should launch a product that solves these challenges.'
The launch of a savings account comes as banks are slashing interest rates in line with the Reserve Bank of Australia's rate cutting cycle.
The RBA is highly anticipated to cut interest rates on August 12 following its next meeting.
AMP, unlike the major four banks, does not host any brick-and-mortar branches, and operates as a 'digital bank'.
It follows changes made in January when it introduced numberless debit cards for both its small business and personal banking customers, in a move designed to combat rising fraud and scam risks.
The retail bank partnered with US payments giant MasterCard to deliver the striking new-look cards, which don't present any front-facing numbers like standard issue bank cards.
The back of the card presents a four-digit number.
Customers would still need a 16-digital number online through the app to access their account.
The app will include other security features such as advanced fraud and scam protection systems to protect customers and multimodal biometric authentication, the bank said.
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